CSBG Archive

A Year of Cool Comics – Day 124

Here is the latest in our year-long look at one cool comic (whether it be a self-contained work, an ongoing comic or a run on a long-running title that featured multiple creative teams on it over the years) a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here‘s the archive of the moments posted so far!

Today we take a look at a story that got a lot of attention when I did the Greatest Peter David Stories Ever Told, Star Trek Annual #3 “Retrospect,” by David and Curt Swan!

Enjoy!

Peter David has shown an odd history, where he often does some of his most memorable work right off the bat, which isn’t usually the case for creators. Just a few issues into his Spectacular Spider-Man run, he did the Death of Jean DeWolff!

Star Trek Annual #3 was David’s first Star Trek story, and it was quite a doozy!

The plot for the issue is extremely straightforward – Scotty learns that his ex-wife is dead. The rest of the issue shows Scotty thinking back upon his relationship with the woman through a series of flashbacks.

It’s a simple plot, but a very heatfelt and effective issue, making it very memorable.

The Curt Swan artwork sure doesn’t hurt!!

Heartfelt stuff, huh?

Here’s when they broke up, right before Star Trek III…

Here they are right before the first Star Trek movie…

Here they are in a scene set during the original TV series…

and finally, as kids…

Very good Annual, and it is well remembered by fans (with good reason!)!

8 Comments

Mary Warner

Peter David may be the greatest comic-book writer ever.
I’d only read one of his Star Trek stories before, and I barely remember it. But this one looks really great. I love Curt Swan’s art, but I’m afraid Scotty doesn’t look a lot like himself. (The Kirk is pretty good, though.)

You’re right about how he tends to start off with a bang. That Wolverine issue was one of his earliest Hulk stories, his initial She-Hulk story was probably the best one, and the Blaze and the Commuter came even before the Death Of Jean DeWolff. Even his first X-Factor story in #70 was really good, even though he was dealing with all the stuff set up by the previous writers.

The Dude

Great stuff! Everybody loves Scotty of course, but he was always the “givin’ it all she’s got, captain!” guy. We never really saw his character developed (in the movies, at least). Peter David managed to give it some depth with just this issue. He’s one hell of a writer.

Mary Warner

Ethan Shuster

This is one of the stories that makes me wish Star Trek actually tried to keep some semblance of a “canon” of official stories. It’s interesting that the Star Wars franchise seems to allow for everything, while Star Trek only considers anything on film or television to be “official”. Granted, fans go way too far demanding all Star Wars stories agree with each other, but it’d be nice if Star Trek tried to do it a little bit. Every comic story, novel, etc, has no bearing on anything seen on TV or movies.

This is a good example. The fact that the kid who died in Star Trek II was Scotty’s nephew is taken here as a given, even though that’s more or less a “deleted scene” from that flick, and never referred to as the official truth. Or at least, it hadn’t been for years It may have cropped up in a newer cut of the film.

It’s also funny to me to see the old kind of art that licensed stories used to feature. Like the aforementioned Star Wars, during this time no one really cared if Kirk looked exactly like Shatner or Han Solo looked like Harrison Ford. The artists used to draw the character and not the actor, if that makes any sense.

I have that issue. I love Curt Swan’s art, and it looks particularly good with the DC /Star Trek/ inking style over top of it.

I also like how Swan split the difference between making Scotty too perfect and drawing all the weight that James Doohan gained in the 1980s. Scotty has a slight double chin and looks somewhat stocky, but he still looks good and believable as a middle-aged naval officer.